


Becoming the Mask Timeline

by moonlit_wings



Series: Becoming the Mask DVD Bonus Features [1]
Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: A weird combination of Dark Fic and Fix-It Fic, Angor Rot gets his soul back, Changeling!Jim, Changelings, Ensemble Cast, Gen, Gunmar eats babies, Stricklander as Jim's mentor, Tags Contain Spoilers, outline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-03-28 11:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13902726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlit_wings/pseuds/moonlit_wings
Summary: In case I don't finish writing the 'real' story, here's what happens.





	Becoming the Mask Timeline

**Author's Note:**

> Posted on March 20th, for World Storyteller Day.

Jim, a Changeling, finds the Amulet. He tries to give the Amulet to Stricklander, but it teleports back to him, revealing him as the Trollhunter. He summons the armour for the first time. Stricklander suggests they can use this to infiltrate Trollmarket.

Blinky and AAARRRGGHH approach Jim that night and he goes with them to Trollmarket. Jim swoons over the Heartstone. Draal finds out someone else was chosen as Trollhunter.

Vendel tests Jim with the Soothscryer. The Forge malfunctions shortly afterwards, implying to the audience that the Trollhunter ghosts were trying to summon Jim, but AAARRRGGHH hits the kill switch.

Bular postures at Jim, who is intimidated but physically unharmed.

Jim copies the first three volumes of ‘A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore’ and gives a copy to Stricklander. He tells Stricklander about Trollmarket.

Jim helps gather Kanjigar’s remains. Vendel gives him a closer look at the Heartstone while Blinky and AAARRRGGHH are taking Kanjigar’s remains to Draal.

Draal and Jim spar. Jim has something like a flashback to the Darklands.

Gnome Chompsky appears. Jim can’t bring himself to kill the gnome because gnomes and Changelings are both considered vermin by trolls. Gnome Chompsky escapes while Jim is putting off the kill, and gets into Toby’s house. Toby adopts and names him.

Jim steals part of the Heartstone. It is implied the Heartstone gave a piece of itself to him on purpose. Jim gives the Heartstone piece to the Janus Order, giving Stricklander the credit but not trusting him to share the Heartstone if Jim gave it directly to him. Killahead Bridge is nearly complete.

Jim spends an evening with his mom, worrying that he won’t be able to keep her alive once Gunmar is freed.

Draal falls off the edge of the Forge platform during a spar. Jim saves his life.

The class goes on a field trip to the museum. Jim sneaks off to talk to Nomura and Stricklander. A new Changeling is being brought in. Jim suggests they swap Enrique Nuñez. He ‘fidgets’ with pieces of Killahead Bridge while they’re talking, and steals one to take down to Trollmarket.

Jim babysits Not Enrique.

Blinky is “teaching” Jim to speak and read trollish. Jim thinks about how different Blinky is from Dictatious.

Jim at school is growing increasingly strained, with two other lives to keep secret from his seeming peers. Toby notices most, but so does Mary, a committed gossip, who mentions it to Claire and Darci.

Toby, Claire, Mary, and Darci follow Jim into Trollmarket and are caught. Vendel is not amused. Jim is forced to reveal one of his secret lives to humans.

Bagdwella interrupts to tell them that the Hero’s Forge is going haywire. Jim is summoned by the ghost Trollhunters. Kanjigar doesn’t say anything about Draal, but Jim lies to Draal afterwards, saying Kanjigar asked Jim to pass on how proud he is of his son.

There is a narrow miss with a gaggletack; Jim holds it with his gauntlets on, and it requires skin contact.

Draal, who has been teaching Jim to fight, decides to move into the Lake basement for Barbara’s protection while Jim is out.

Jim complains to Stricklander about his head itching. His horns are growing out to adult length.

Jim gives Toby a Heartstone fragment, suggesting he could try growing another one. Toby doesn’t think he can replicate the pressure or temperature inside Trollmarket’s cavern, but might be able to recreate the mineral composition that feeds into the Heartstone’s base. He agrees it’s worth trying to see if it’s possible. Jim thinks, if Toby can grow Heartstones, it could make him valuable enough to be spared after Gunmar’s escape.

Nomura shows up at Jim’s house. She suspects Jim of stealing a bridge piece, but is hesitant to openly accuse him and throw him on Bular’s mercy, because that might just get her in trouble for ‘letting’ him steal it. Draal attacks Nomura, who is still in her human guise at the time. Jim leaps to intervene in the fight, exposing himself to Nomura as the Trollhunter. Draal thinks Jim just doesn’t know Nomura is a Changeling, but Draal is carrying the gaggletack and gets it out to reveal her. Jim gets hit instead, exposing his Changeling identity to Draal. Draal and Nomura are both shocked and horrified.

Barbara gets home and Jim forces Draal into the basement to hide while Nomura switches to her human form. Nomura excuses herself to Barbara by saying she was out for an evening stroll and thought somebody was following her, so she ran to the first house with lights on and Jim kindly let her inside. It is revealed Nomura and Barbara know each other from krav maga classes. Barbara offers to drive Nomura home.

Jim takes the chance on leaving Barbara alone with Nomura – he knows Nomura doesn’t like leaving a body trail – to try and convince Draal not to tell Trollmarket.

Draal does insist on telling Blinky and AAARRRGGHH, but agrees not to go to Vendel if Blinky can also be persuaded on that score. AAARRRGGHH is actually the easiest to convince that Jim is still trustworthy, after Jim reveals the bridge piece he hid in Blinky’s library. AAARRRGGHH can relate to wanting to escape Gunmar’s control, and to not wanting to fight anymore. Jim also reveals to Blinky that Dictatious is alive and working for Gunmar.

The question becomes what to do about Nomura. She won’t recklessly expose him; she’s not a die-hard loyalist; she can be convinced to turn on Gunmar if they can convince her it would be to her benefit. They can’t just imprison her in Trollmarket. Evidence of Changelings could cause panic, and things are tense enough with a ‘human’ Trollhunter and the recent incident of other humans following him in. Besides, humans and Changelings will notice if Nomura disappears.

Nomura approaches Stricklander and questions him on Jim being the Trollhunter. She does not reveal that Jim knows she knows, only claims she saw him with the Amulet and ‘wondering’ if Bular knows he has it. Stricklander reveals the ‘infiltrate Trollmarket’ scheme to keep Nomura quiet.

( _To recap ‘Who Knows Who Knows What’ at this point in the story, because it’s very convoluted:_

_Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, Draal, Nomura, Bular, and Stricklander know that Jim is a Changeling and the Trollhunter._

_Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, Draal, and Nomura know that the four of them, Stricklander, and Bular know about Jim being the Trollhunter and a Changeling._

_Stricklander knows that Bular and Nomura know Jim is the Trollhunter, but does not know that Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, or Draal know that Jim is a Changeling._

_Bular knows Stricklander knows Jim is the Trollhunter, but does not know that Nomura knows Jim is the Trollhunter, or that Blinky, AAARRRGGHH, or Draal know that Jim is a Changeling._

_Other Changelings know Jim is a Changeling, but not that he’s the Trollhunter._

_Vendel, Bagdwella, the other trolls in Trollmarket, Toby, Darci, Mary, and Claire know that Jim’s the Trollhunter, but not that he’s a Changeling._

_Jim knows most of this, but does not know that Stricklander knows that Nomura knows about Jim being the Trollhunter._

_Barbara does not know any of this yet._ )

Figuring out how to get Nomura on board so she becomes an ally, or at least neutral, transitions into the process of turning Jim completely against Gunmar. His loyalty is still conflicted. He doesn’t want Gunmar released because of what it would mean for the humans he cares for, but doesn’t acknowledge that releasing Gunmar would also be bad for the Changelings – but once Gunmar is loose, he won’t need the Changelings anymore. Blinky manages to get Jim to crack and realize his justifications for why Changelings would still be useful to Gunmar post-conquest are … not consistent with Gunmar’s established strategies, no matter how logical Jim’s reasoning is.

Jim has a breakdown. AAARRRGGHH comforts him.

Jim is now deeply concerned about the safety of the other Changelings and their Familiars, and what the consequences will be for them if Jim openly turns against Gunmar. He does not articulate this to the trolls, suspecting they will not sympathize. His first instinct is to go to Stricklander with his concerns.

Stricklander’s established issues with Bular make him open to persuasion on this matter, though he does not openly commit. Jim presents himself as having a crisis of faith because of Trollmarket influences and needing reassurance before he does something stupid. It’s a thin excuse but provides deniability.

The Eyestone, supposedly the last piece of Killahead Bridge, arrives. Bular attempts to open it. Bular threatens Jim when this fails, thinking the Trollhunter sabotaged the ritual somehow. Stricklander suggests that perhaps the Amulet needs the Trollhunter to be the one to activate it. Jim ‘attempts’ to open the bridge, but there is still a piece missing, so it doesn’t work. Bular attacks Jim.

Stricklander, to Jim’s surprise, intervenes to save him from Bular. Stricklander and Jim escape to Trollmarket, but now they’re stuck there, and Bular knows where Jim lives so his mom is in danger. Or so he thinks – Nomura stayed out of the fight, but she actually goes to the Lake house afterwards and tells Draal what happened, and when Barbara gets home they ‘kidnap’ her to Trollmarket through one of the other entrances.

By now Vendel has to be informed of what’s going on. He is not mad. Mad would be a significant improvement.

Stricklander points out that all Gunmar knows is that the portal failed. Their best option is to kill Bular. Jim panics over what this will mean for their Familiars, stuck in the Darklands with Gunmar. Nomura callously comments that Gunmar harming any Changeling’s Familiar might be what it takes to turn the Janus Order against him. Stricklander says Jim ought to focus less on how Gunmar might kill their Familiars if Bular is harmed, and more on how Bular will kill Jim if not stopped.

Barbara gets an explanation. She is still freaked out. Jim shows her Jay-Jay with the mirror trick but refuses to show her his troll form, promising he will after they take Bular down.

Bular has been lurking under the bridge. He attacks the second they emerge from Trollmarket. The fight ends with Jim stabbing Bular with Daylight and Draal punching Bular into gravel.

Jim reveals his troll form to Barbara. The audience finally gets a full description of what Changeling!Jim looks like.

Nomura suggests using the Triumbric Stones against Gunmar. It’s not like they have a choice but to work against him now.

Stricklander gives Jim Gunmar’s Eye and leaves town for a while.

Claire finds out Not Enrique is a Changeling, which leads to finding out Jim is a Changeling _and_ sold Enrique out. She is furious. Not Enrique is distressed. Jim tells Toby a bit about Changeling ‘culture’.

Stricklander returns with Angor Rot, who has agreed to help fight Gunmar in exchange for the return of his soul. He already has the ring back. 

The Changelings can no longer return to the Janus Order. Otto got out of the fight for Killahead Bridge alive – he knows they’re traitors. Well, he knows Jim and Stricklander are traitors and Nomura prioritized saving her own skin over freeing Gunmar.

In Gatto’s Keep, Nomura, Toby, and Draal are swallowed. Nomura recognizes and steals several other magical artifacts that might come in handy, including the Kairosect.

After getting the second Triumbric Stone from Gatto’s Keep, Draal turns human. The four Changelings are deeply amused by this.

Due to the Quagga-Wumps’ hostility to strangers, Angor Rot took it upon himself to go after the final stone himself while the others were in Gatto’s Keep. He does not reveal this until they are about to leave to go to Florida and try and get it. Because they didn’t ask.

Vendel teaches Jim about cleaving stones for maximum power. Jim has a loose knowledge of how it works but no practical experience. Toby reveals the Heartstone fragment Jim gave him is growing.

Draal and Nomura rekindle their relationship.

Barbara is adjusting to the idea of having two sons and one of them not being human.

Jim talks to the ghost Trollhunters again. Angor has released the souls of the Trollhunters he killed, but they still discourage Jim from leaning too heavily on his allies. Jim is defensive. He lies to Draal again, saying Kanjigar wanted to pass along how proud he is that Draal avenged him. Kanjigar has been explicit that he does not want his son involved in Trollhunting.

Claire is pressing the idea of rescuing all the Familiars. Jim points out most of them wouldn’t have families to return to and defending that it would put all the Changelings in danger to lose human form.

Barbara and Stricklander, whose flirting was put on hold when she found out about the Changeling thing, start dating.

Draal turns back into a troll.

Jim wakes up in agony, unable to transform into human shape. He tries the mirror trick but cannot see Jay-Jay. Panicked phone calls to Stricklander and Nomura confirm they both still have human forms. They conclude Gunmar knows Jim killed Bular, so he ate Jay-Jay. Jim and Barbara are both devastated.

Stricklander gives Jim a disguise mask to sustain his human identity. As a Changeling, he still has his sun-resilience. It will work for a while, but the illusion will not be able to age.

Claire callously – I love this girl, but she can be cruel when she feels others are in the way of her goals – uses Jay-Jay’s death to urge Jim to go rescue the other Familiars.

Queen Usurna and the Krubera show up. She pushes for the Trollhunter to open the Bridge and confront Gunmar. The audience knows, but the protagonists do not, that she is in communication with Gunmar.

Killahead is set up again, in some isolated cavern by a disused gyre station. Everyone agreed they shouldn’t just set it up right in Trollmarket. Jim activates the Eclipse armour. The plan is to go in, fight Gunmar, and get out. On the other side, Gunmar and the Gumm-Gumm army are waiting to charge out as soon as the portal opens.

Everyone is too occupied trying to hold the Gumm-Gumms back to actually deactivate the portal. Draal uses his rolling attack to plow through. He loses his arm tearing the amulet loose before the entire army can get free. Gunmar and Dictatious are both out by that point.

Jim manages to steal the Decimaar Blade for a moment, but can only hold it while the Eclipse armour is activated. When he gets the amulet back and switches to the Daylight armour, Gumnar’s sword vanishes from his grasp.

Thanks to Angor’s portals, the Trollhunter team escapes with their lives. Blinky shakes and tosses out some dwärkstones to cause a cave-in, but it is possible Gunmar survived. They can only hope the explosion trashed the gyre so he can’t easily get into Trollmarket.

While they recuperate from the fight and try to figure out what went wrong, Usurna summons the Tribunal in response to the Trollhunter’s failure.

Stricklander and Nomura are Jim’s defense team. They use the loophole that troll law only counts them as half-trolls, so two Changelings add up to the equivalent of one troll speaking in Jim’s defense. Barbara tries to insist on being on the team as well. The Tribunal dismisses her at first as not being one of Jim’s tribe, but she flatly states that she is Jim’s MOTHER so of course she’s part of his tribe. She still doesn’t get to join the team because of the ‘single defendant’ rule; the other two know a little more about troll law than she does, making them better choices. 

They don’t find out Usurna is working for Gunmar yet, but they do point out the aspects Jim is on trial for that are arguably Usurna’s fault, namely that Jim was complying with the Tribunal’s own demands in opening Killahead Bridge.

When Jim is sentenced to the Deep, Barbara has to be restrained from physically attacking the Tribunal.

Gunmar stays under the care of the Janus Order before turning against the Changelings, who are ‘no longer necessary’ now that he is free. Otto barely escapes alive.

Gunmar attacks Trollmarket, using the Decimaar Blade to turn its defenders into Gumm-Gumms. Usurna’s loyalties are revealed, including that she turned AAARRRGGHH and other Krubera whelps over to Gunmar centuries ago. Vendel and Usurna fight. She stabs him with Creeper’s Sun. AAARRRGGHH is also injured with it.

Otto sneaks into Trollmarket in various sequential guises and goes to the last surviving Changelings in Arcadia for help. Nomura reveals the Kairosect, suggesting they could use it to evacuate. Jim instead uses it to attack Gunmar, stealing the Decimaar Blade and using it against him.

Those mind-controlled by Gunmar are free once he’s dead. It is unclear if Dictatious and Usurna were mind-controlled or are lying about it to save their skins, so they are imprisoned for the time being.

Jim and Angor brew the antidote to Creeper’s Sun, saving AAARRRGGHH and bringing back Vendel.

The Soothscryer activates, and Vendel’s brush with death allows Kanjigar to possess him. Kanjigar does not reveal that Jim lied about his past ‘messages’ for Draal, only ‘repeats’ how proud he is of his son, and how much he loves and misses him. Draal and Kanjigar finally get a hug. Kanjigar does reveal, however, that he never wants Draal to be the Trollhunter, because he fears for his son’s safety.

Angor Rot leaves on a quest to fully restore his soul. Stricklander gives him all the information the Janus Order has on the Pale Lady.

Jim opens Killahead again. The un-brainwashed Gumm-Gumms are released from the Darklands. His true mission is to get the Familiar-less Changelings out of there. There are not as many of them still alive as he had hoped. When he left, there were thirty, and Not Enrique said there were still twenty-three, but when Jim finds them, there are only eighteen.

The Familiar-less Changelings are brought to Trollmarket to see if the magic on them can be undone.

They don’t take all the Familiars out of the Darklands at once. They start by swapping Enrique – Claire would not tolerate anything else – but the rest have to be staggered rather than have several hundred babies pop out of nowhere all at once. They agree to leave Zelda Nomura and Waltolomew Strickler for near-last, to give the Changelings Nomura and Stricklander time to wrap up the affairs of their current human lives. (They do the same for any other Familiars whose Changelings survived Gunmar or weren’t in Arcadia at the time.) Otto, as a polymorph, is not tied to a Familiar. Creating polymorphs is a more difficult and resource-intense process with a high death rate for the intended polymorphs, so there aren’t as many of them as ‘normal’ Changelings.

Jim offers Barbara the chance to adopt one or more of the Familiars, but she can’t bring herself to do that. She’s already beaten herself up a lot for being such an absent mom to him, with her busy work schedule, and he was technically an adult the whole time and mature enough to handle that; besides, it would feel like she’s ‘replacing’ Jay-Jay; and none of that would be fair to the adopted child.

Jim moves down to Trollmarket full time. The official story to the humans is that James Lake Senior showed his face again and Jim is out of town with him, trying to reconnect with his father. People who actually know him know that wouldn’t be something Jim would want, but it keeps official searches from occurring and leaves the option of glamour-masking himself to look human and coming openly back up to the surface to spend time with his friends and mother.

In a comical epilogue, the trolls find out about Toby’s ‘geology project’, growing a new Heartstone.


End file.
